DAMIAN Green’s response to Ian Blackford’s observations and question on the parlous state of Yemen tells one all one needs to know about the morality of our Conservative Government ("UK has made £4.6bn arms sales to Saudis since Yemen war began", claims SNP", The Herald, November 30). His chiding of SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford on who profits from the arms deal with Saudi Arabia distancing the Government from involvement in the matter ignores the fact that it is the Government which grants export certificates thereby sanctioning the sale of armaments. These arms are being used to kill innocent civilians including women and children in an unequal war being fought between different sects of the same faith.
The suggestion that there is no Government or Establishment involvement in promoting arms sales to Saudi Arabia is an insult to the intelligence of anyone who can read a newspaper. The time-barred publication of Cabinet papers from the Margaret Thatcher era confirmed just how instrumental she was in securing arms deals with the Saudis.
The worst part of Mr Green’s reply was to link the Saudi arms sales to British jobs, the inference being that it was irrelevant how many innocents are being murdered, British workers, British jobs are sustained by the trade, fewer Brits are unemployed and a drain on society. In a nutshell he summed up the moral vacuum at the heart of Tory policy – it doesn’t matter how many citizens suffer through the introduction of Universal Credit, it doesn’t matter that thousands of elderly and infirm have met a premature death through cuts in social services, it doesn’t matter that more and more people rely on food banks to survive. There is no apparent concern that the Office for Budget Responsibility is leaking out a bit at a time just how dire the future will be for most of us as we crash into the Brexit shambles created by internal Tory Party strife that some attribute simply to impending EU tax-avoidance legislation. All that matters to them is money and as we all know that unless they (not us) want to renovate a palace, fund a royal wedding or build aircraft carriers that have no planes there isn’t enough of it, not even enough to stop people dying.
I despair when I witness the smug complacent performance of the likes of Mr Green yesterday in Westminster, as it simply confirms that things will never change.
David J Crawford,
85 Whittingehame Court, 1300 Great Western Road, Glasgow.
FIRST Secretary of State Damian Green says "the UK had one of the most rigorous and robust defence sales regimes in the world". Are politicians totally unable to speak honestly? The long list of vile and loathsome regimes we have been selling to for 50 years makes a mockery of his simplistic comments. It's all about a lack of morals, money, bribery and corruption.
If he would take the time to read the history of his own arms dealing department then the phrase "defence sales" is a sick joke. Selling weapons to kill, maim, destroy and create orphans is a revolting and disgusting industry unfit for the 21st century.
Brian McKenna,
Overtoun Avenue, Dumbarton.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel